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To accompany my application and other promotional materials that I intend to exhibit at our Masters exhibition, I have created a piece I have titled “The Cogs of my MA”. This piece is a chance for me to show and look back at a lot of the things that have informed my MA projects and a lot of the things that I have created.

Although this is a very busy piece with lots of information within it, it still does not encompass my entire Masters study but it is a good visual interpretation of the many things, including considerations, acquired information, productions and conclusions that have been moving like cogs in my head throughout the past twenty two months.

I hope it shows the breadth and depth of my inquiry, whilst also showing how a design is influenced by many considerations that all are important. The version below is a small low quality piece, to gain a proper consideration for the piece you will have to attend our exhibition.

Okay so thus far, I have researched many areas in order to create my app and I have done just that. I have created an application, so what’s next? Academically as Masters Students, we have to produce an exhibition of our work, you can find out more about that process here.

The next stage for my app professionally is to promote and distribute my application. The distribution process is currently on hold due to a recent hacking of Apple’s development centre but I have been able to work on the promotion.

It is my intention to build a brand of educational applications under the name ‘applessons’. The Vikings app will hopefully be the first of many educational apps that I will release. The ‘applessons’ name is an idea I had whilst brainstorming names that either related to the term app (which is a shortening of the word application) or educational terms, as the overriding purpose of my application will be to educate people. I feel that by branding my range of applications with this name, it will hopefully be obvious to people what applessons is and does. A joint branding for all my apps will hopefully be beneficial in the future, as I hope that users of one app may decide to choose further apps based upon a hopefully engaging, informative experience from other apps within the range.

I have designed a logo for ‘applessons’ which you can see below:

I have also built a website to promote my app. In his article “20 WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR APP FOR FREE” Bobby Gill say’s “Create a web site for your app!” Jonathan Saragossi also believes this is a good idea “Again, another major element that I’ve seen many developers overlook. Build a home for your app, a place where you can freely describe why it’s so great without the limitations of the app market description page.” To see the website that I have created, click here.

My website also features links to various aspects of social media, which I intend to use as promotional tools in order to spread the word and build my brand. Gill (2013) mentions a number of social media brands in his article, for example “Facebook – It goes without saying: create a Facebook page!” Social media will be an important tool in the branding and publication of my website.

On my website I will also be promoting a bespoke design service for others who may be looking for an app designer to produce apps for all types of new media, see here.

I have been meaning to make this post for a very long time but better late than never I suppose. Back in January, as part of my research I came across a very interesting Vikings documentary on one of the BBC channels, it was broadcast in the early hours of the morning and I more or less come across it by chance. The documentary was the third of a three part series and I was a bit gutted to have missed the first two episodes but since then I have managed to find two of them on YouTube and I thought I would post them below:

Although these documentaries are not perfect for my target audience, I would love to be able to add high quality video like this from the great locations visited but presented in a more child friendly manner. Unfortunately, I do not have the financial resources to visit these places, nor do I have the finances or technical skill to produce videos of this quality on my own. I feel that it would definitely not be worth adding sub standard video to the app, so unfortunately my app will not be featuring any video but it would have been a nice addition.

In the What Happened to the Vikings section of my application, I explain that “we need to remember that most of the travelling people from Scandinavia who we call Vikings, would not have called themselves Vikings. In the Old Norse language, the word Viking means ‘a pirate raid’, and few of these Northern people actually participated in raiding.“. This sets the basIs for why their dominance of their era came to an end. The vikings did not really change, it was the world that changed around them and they were simply no longer the big bully who could dominate and cause fear in the way they used to, as i explain “European countries had new leaders who were more organised, with well trained armies who could defend against Viking attacks.” I have created an image to reinforce this idea see below:

I have also created a short swipe-able story to show how the viking age came to an end and the Norman age began in 1066, when William the Conqueror invades England with his Norman army and kills King Harold, see video below:

As part of the Viking beliefs section of my application, I explain what Vikings believed in regarding death. I explain how it was a Viking tradition to bury some people in their boats, alongside some of their belongings and their favourite things. Below is a mood board and the imagery that I created for my application.

In a recent meeting with tutor Mark Wigan, I was directed towards an exhibition at The National Museum of Scotland. The exhibition was showing more than 500 artefacts from the Swedish History Museum in Scotland and it was the only venue in the UK graced with this honour. Unfortunately due to a combination of reasons I have been unable to attend this exhibition in person but I have had a good look at the online information, slide show, video and interactive games that are shown on the National Museum of Scotland‘s website in relation to this exhibition, see below: